


Such Things Are Possible

by ConvenientAlias



Category: Sense8 (TV)
Genre: Canon Compliant, Gen, Multi, POV Rajan, Series Finale
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-11
Updated: 2018-06-11
Packaged: 2019-05-21 01:17:25
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 12,867
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14905731
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ConvenientAlias/pseuds/ConvenientAlias
Summary: From Paris to Naples, from the Eiffel Tower to an exploding tour bus, from eating pizza to discovering his wife has a secret telepathic lover: Rajan is getting a lot of mileage out of his holiday.Or, the one that's literally just Amor Vincit Omnia from Rajan's point of view.





	Such Things Are Possible

Rajan really only planned on finding out what was going on with his wife, whether she was okay. After all, he was involved in undermining an organization that illegally watered down drugs and sold them on the black market in other countries—he knew that she could well be in danger. And she had left so suddenly, and then all this from “BPO”, a medical organization that he had actually never heard of before. But he had only planned on going to the address she gave him, checking in on her, giving her a few light kisses (she always seemed so anxious when he tried for anything else, but at the same time he needed her to know he missed her and was there for her) and then leaving, getting back to work.

He expected a nice little apartment, decorated with Kala’s things in a roughly Indian style, perhaps with a few Parisian touches. But when he showed up at the address, he could hear someone yelling inside. Trouble? He didn’t know how to fight, but he had to see if something was wrong. He walked on in. The door had been left unlocked.

He found out who was yelling soon enough. It was a Hispanic man (somewhat handsome) wearing nothing but shorts and a towel. He was pacing, and he didn’t seem to even notice Rajan as he walked past. No violence. Also no answer to Rajan’s question of what was going on.

Next room down, a woman chopping up fruit. Asian, but East Asian. She gaped at him as if he were a ghost and pointed the knife at him. Still not threatening, though odd.

As he walked into the living room a black man shouted, “Rajan! What are you doing here?” in Hindi. And walked over to him. Offered him a brief squeeze on the arm (what?) and then pointed him towards the center of the room, and there was Kala.

Kala said, “Oh my God.”

She seemed to be fine, at least. In the brief moment that she just looked at him he noted her hair, neatly swept in a ponytail, the loose yellow shirt that complemented her skin and hair color so well, and then the worry on her face. So physically well, but…

She hadn’t been expecting him.

“Rajan, what are you doing here?”

He tore his eyes away from the group of…seven people? Maybe? In the middle of the room, back to her. Right. Whatever kind of gathering she had here, he was here for her, not them. “My love! I had not heard from you.”

“Why didn’t you tell me you were coming?”

“I sent you an email.” Didn’t seem to satisfy her—her brows were furrowed. Why was it that she always seemed to be preoccupied when they talked, even about the simplest things? “I was worried. These people came looking for you from a medical organization?”

“What organization?”

In the living room a man had stood up and was staring at them intently. A white man in a leather jacket and dark pants. Well that was…slightly ominous. He searched his memory. “I only remember three letters. B, P…”

“Oh shit!”

There was a knock on the door. Only it was more like a hammering. The people in the living room were springing up. Rajan put a hand on Kala’s arm—she was looking this way, that way…

“Everybody move!” The man in the black jacket had taken out a gun. An actual gun. And from the way he held it he knew how to use it.

Had he stumbled into Hollywood?

As he stared, Kala shoved a jumble of equipment into his arms. She was darting away before he could ask why, what was going on, what the…And then they were on the roof, Kala at his arm, grim faced.

“Kala, who are these people? Have you joined some sort of insane cult?”

“Rajan, if I am caught by those men back there, they will kill me. Come on.”

So…questions later. Downstairs there was something of a ruckus, and up here a tall white woman yelled something about croissants and started heading down to the street. The still-shirtless Hispanic man ran after her. Kala’s brow was still furrowed and when Rajan asked her where they were going she didn’t seem to hear him.

After a moment she headed down too, Rajan in tow. By the time they reached the apartment again, there were four men lying limp on the floor, and three new strangers were embracing some of the old strangers. The white action-figure man said they had to gather their things (again) and head out.

Rajan clasped the medical equipment tightly. Kala looked up at him as if expecting him to help her gather the things again.

“I’m not going anywhere until someone tells me just what the hell is going on here!”

Kala swallowed. She tugged at his arm and led him to a couch. “All right, Rajan. I’ll try to explain it, but there’s a lot. Sit down.”

He sat.

The East-Asian woman said, “If there’s time, the fruit was just about ready…”

“We don’t really have time to eat,” the white action-figure man said.

“This story is going to take a while,” Kala said. “That…can’t be helped. Fruit would be lovely.” She smiled apologetically at the woman, who scurried off to the kitchen.

“Honestly, Kala. Is this a cult you have joined?”

“Not exactly? Though it probably depends on your definition of cult and we might look like one. This is kind of a lot, Rajan, but I swear to you, before I begin, I am not crazy.”

Rajan nodded slowly. “I never said you were. But these people…and who are…” He gestured at the bodies on the floor.

“Bad men,” Kala said. “Very bad men. Like I said, they are out to kill me, and my friends as well. We are trying to stop them. Please, just listen.”

So he does.

Kala takes a deep breath. “All right. Scientifically, there are two types of human beings in existence.”

This sounded like eugenics. Which sounded like a cult. But also not very much like Kala, so he was probably wrong.

“One is Homo sapiens, and the other is what we call _Homo sensorium_. Well, by we…I didn’t come up with the name, but it is convenient. _Homo sensorium_ is a type of human that is born from _Homo sapiens_ but is not like them. They come in groups of eight, all born at the same time, though from different parents and in different places throughout the world. There comes a time in their lives when they have…a sort of second birth. And when that occurs, they develop a mental and emotional bond.”

“Is this…”

“I don’t know what you’re going to say but it’s probably not. Sorry. This will be easier if you just listen.”

The woman emerged from the kitchen with fruit in the bowl. It turned out to be mango. Rajan nervously picked up a piece and started to chew.

“We’ll call these ‘ _Homo sensorium_ ’ humans sensates for short, if that’s not too confusing,” Kala added.

“It’s snappy because there are eight of them,” interrupted a man with shaggy hair in a kind of hideous hat.

Rajan said, “Eight of them as in…”

“Not helpful, Bug. Rajan, focus. Just listen to me,” Kala said. “When sensates have bonded to a cluster, they begin to have visions of each other, where they find themselves with each other despite physical distance and despite not actually knowing each other. They also sometimes inhabit each other’s bodies or use each other’s skills without knowing it.”

Rajan accepted that this had to be leading somewhere even though it seemed random and honestly a little crazy. “And you have scientific evidence that these sensates exist?” Knowing his love, she wouldn’t jump to conclusions without a good reason, but this was…

Kala raised her eyebrows and said, “Si, tengo evidencia. Tengo la evidencia de mi propia experiencia, y las experiencias de ellos, mis amigos y mi familia. Espero que me creas, Rajan. Espero que puedes comprender este loco fenomeno sin mas, porque no se si pueda explicarlo lo suficiente para ti como cientifica. Pero es cierto.”

Rajan glanced at the Hispanic man, who smiled at him a little goofily. Then back at Kala. “You speak Spanish?” He himself did not.

“This is all the evidence I can give you,” Kala said. “I, personally, am a sensate, as are these people, my friends, my family. I have had these experiences myself, and I know them to be real. Like a moment ago, I was channeling Lito’s ability to speak Spanish.”

The Hispanic man (Lito?) gave a light wave.

Rajan frowned. “So…you’re…like a mutant?”

“That would be one way to put it,” Kala said.

“That seems…why wouldn’t the world have heard of this?”

“Mostly, sensates keep their existence secret. Differences lead to hate and violence too easily, and it would be hard to have their claims believed. Also, the organization that spoke to you, BPO, tries to capture sensates for experimentation, and for purposes we do not yet fully understand.” Kala gestured to the bodies (and there were still bodies on the floor, why was this Rajan’s life?) and said, “These men were sent by BPO to take us in. We have been fighting BPO for a long time now, ever since we became aware of ourselves as a cluster and they unfortunately became aware of us.”

“So, you left our home because they knew you were there and they were chasing you, and you needed to hide.”

Kala smiled nervously. “Um. Not quite.”

She’d been straight faced throughout the entire explanation, yet something was now making her uneasy again. It would have to be something big. Rajan picked up another piece of mango. It was very juicy. “Thank you for the fruit,” he said to the woman who cut it. She smiled and shrugged.

“One of their men, Whispers, is also a sensate himself. He is a collaborator. For some time he has been after us, and recently he captured one of our own. A man named Wolfgang Bogdanow.” Kala shrugged. “He’s German, very tough, very good looking. Not that that matters to…anyways, they captured him through their connections with a criminal organization, and they have been torturing him for our identities. They’re trying to use him to get to us.”

Rajan swallowed a piece of mango, hard. “That’s…”

“We gathered together to make a counterattack. Together we have…a number of very useful abilities. We managed to capture Whispers as well as another sensate of dubious morality, Jonas—he’s the man you saw escape on the roof…”

Rajan hadn’t actually noticed any man escaping on the roof. He’d been somewhat distracted.

“…and now we are trying to do a hostage trade with BPO in order to get Wolfgang back. And that’s…well, that’s where we are now, except we’ll probably have to change safe houses.”

Rajan nodded.

“Can we introduce ourselves?” asked a black woman with streaks of blue, pink and purple in her hair.

“Oh. Yeah, go ahead,” Kala said.

“I’m Amanita.” The black woman offered her hand, and Rajan shook it. “I’m not a cluster member either, I’m just a normal person like you, so I get that you think all this is crazy right now. But it’s real.”

“We are also normal people,” said a Hispanic man who was not shirtless. “I’m Hernando. This is Daniela. And that’s Lito…”

“Lito isn’t one of the normal people. He’s extraordinary,” Daniela said with a small smile.

The shirtless man said, “It is good to meet you. Kala has talked about you.” His handshake was more invigorated than the other three.

“And I’m Nomi,” said the tall white woman with glasses. “Amanita and I are from San Francisco. We’re together…”

“Engaged, actually,” Amanita said, flaunting a ring.

“…and I’m a member of Kala’s cluster. I’m happy to meet her husband.”

“I’m Will Gorski. I’m…well I used to be a cop until BPO ruined that.” The white man who was still holding a gun (though now only in his holster) shook Rajan’s hand as well. “I know this seems scary, but we’ll make sure to keep you safe.”

“Thank you,” Rajan said.

“I’m Riley Blue. Kala’s talked about you.”

“You seem to have talked to me to a lot of people, my love.” A lot of possibly crazy people. But they were her friends?

“I’m Capheus. I’m so pleased to meet you.” The black man gave Rajan a warm, muscular hug which Rajan hesitantly returned. After all, this was the man who had greeted him initially.

“I’m Sun Bak,” said the woman who had given him the mangoes. “Any friend of Kala’s is a friend of mine.” There was something slightly amused about the way she smiled at him, now that she wasn’t freaking out over his being there.

“And I’m the Bug,” said the craziest man of the bunch. “Nice to make your acquaintance. I’m with these two angels over here.” He gestured at Nomi and Amanita. “I’m not a sensate, but I’m far from ordinary.”

Rajan slowly nodded.

The group stood there looking at him expectantly and he looked them up and down. These were the people his wife was trusting with her life. These were the people currently backing up her story, which sounded insane, but which he was, weirdly enough, already beginning to accept.

Kala grabbed his hand and dragged him into a back room, where she sat him down on a bed.

“I know this all seems crazy,” she said.

“That you are…telepathically connected to seven other people?”

“Well, it’s not exactly…but basically, yes.”

He drew a deep breath. He’d absorbed it. But what to say now? “Here I thought I was the one with big secrets.” Selling expired drugs on the black market was nothing compared to this.

“I didn’t know how to tell you. Or anyone.” And yet there was something about the look on her face now. It seemed open, the way it was when they first met, back before she started getting nervous and worried all the time. Honest. Hopeful.

He had wondered why it was that she started to seem preoccupied all the time. Now it made sense. “This was all happening to you before our wedding?”

“Yes.”

“Little wonder you were so confused.” It was a miracle she had managed to get through the ceremony even the second time with that much chaos in her life.

“Yes.” She sighed, bent her head.

“And in Positano?” He had to ask.

“Yes.”

Well, that at least explained some of her nerves when they slept together. It was an odd relief to him, knowing that maybe it was not only his flaws as a husband that had made her that way. He had felt guilt over that, and hidden it, for the longest time.

But enough about him. “So, when this Wolfgang fellow is tortured, you feel his pain?”

She nodded.

“That sounds terrible.” His wife, his beautiful, sensitive wife, feeling the pain of a friend and being unable to do anything about it. He could hardly imagine.

She touched his hand after a moment of silence. “Look, I know this is all a shock, and it might be best for you to take some time away and just…”

What? “But you are in danger now, Kala.” He could hardly go back to India knowing that.

She stared at him. “So you believe me.”

Somehow he did. He tried to explain it to her, to himself. “Would you, could you concoct a lie of this extraordinary magnitude? No. Are you and all these people medically insane? I don’t think so. So what other choice do I have?” He’d heard this logic used before by religious people, explaining why they believed in one religion or another. Maybe believing in Kala was his religion.

She smiled at him, and the nerves were back, but that was happiness in her eyes. Pleasure, shy and almost guilty, to be believed. He fought the urge to embrace her—now, when she looked about to run, was not the time. But, “I came rushing to Paris for the same reason I married you. I love you Kala.” He met her eyes. “And that feeling hasn’t gone away or changed by learning that the woman I love is so much more than the woman I married.”

He was rewarded by a warm hand on his beard. “I married a good man.” Her smile was steadier now. And when she kissed him, it felt like she finally meant it.

* * *

 

And so by default he became a member of the group. Of some sort of weird half-telepathic vigilante squad out to defeat an evil medical organization. Maybe it was redemptive karma allowing him to make up for being involved in something of an immoral medical syndicate himself. Maybe it was just baggage that came along with the woman he was married to.

A woman who seemed to be, if not the top dog in this group, at least somewhat influential. “Blockers”—he still didn’t quite get what they were but they seemed to be important and Kala was the one who made them. His wife, the genius scientist.

(Also apparently they were basically keeping a man drugged in their basement but considering he was the one responsible for this Wolfgang being tortured he couldn’t feel that bad about it.)

They changed bases that day, just changed apartments like it was nothing, taking all their stuff with them. Rajan tried to help and observed the dynamics of the group.

Nomi, Amanita and Bug were certainly a trio. They seemed most closely connected with Will, and those four were the ones who did most of the planning, while the others helped put those plans into action. Hernando and Daniela largely hung back with Lito, but Lito loudly interacted with basically everyone, so they got involved in conversations eventually anyway. Will was closest with Riley, but Riley talked more with Sun and Kala and sometimes the Nomi-Amanita duo, getting along well with the women. Sun, as well, seemed to get along best with Riley, Kala and Nomi.

Vaguely, he wondered where this Wolfgang fit in.

The day proceeded chaotically. First Riley and Will vanished to take care of business, and didn’t come back in time to drug the man they were hiding in their “basement”, then Amanita and Daniela left and came back slightly shaken, reporting Whispers had tried to attack them, and then Riley “visited” some other sensate (Rajan at this point had lost track of who all the sensates were and figured Kala would explain anything he really needed to know) and found out that BPO had an internal feud and…honestly it all was very confusing. But at least by the end of the day Rajan could say he had fully accepted that sensates were, in fact, a thing, not just in theory but in practicality. It was too evident in the way the cluster interacted. They were friendly with the sapients of the bunch—Amanita, Bug, Hernando, Daniela, Rajan himself—but with each other, they were symbiotic.

Also, things were going too fast for him to not go along with them.

Already they were plotting the hostage exchange. Apparently they’d been plotting it since before Rajan arrived, quite a while before. The plan was basically simple—they’d have all group members available, and some would walk Whispers in while the others waited to get Wolfgang out. Also Kala would be using a noxious gas to get everyone out of the club in case things erupted into violence.

Will had a fucking map to plot it out, though, and he went over it in detail. “Location is crucial.”

Lito muttered, “In _The Devil Died at Dawn_ they had a hostage exchange in a club.”

“It was a bullfighting stadium,” Hernando corrected him.

“Was it?”

Bug leered over the table. “Oh yeah, and the bull gored you…”

“Guys.” Will was not amused.

(Rajan made a mental note to eventually watch Lito’s movies. If he was telepathically connected to Kala, then knowing him better would help Rajan know Kala better. In theory, Rajan would have to do this with all seven of them…his heart leapt at the thought. It was a lot, but he couldn’t help but be excited at the idea of learning so much about his wife, who could be so closed off sometimes.)

But the table settled back into listening to Will. He explained the layout of the bar as well as the streets surrounding it.

Then he moved onto the players. “In order for us to execute the exchange, one of us will have to get in contact with Lila Facchini. Since I’m already connected to Whispers, it just makes sense that it would be me.”

Will was connected to Whispers? Rajan shot Kala a look, but she squeezed his arm. Right. He should probably just listen and give up on understanding all the forces at play here. Go with the flow, go with the flow…

Nomi and Amanita had a clever plan that involved framing BPO as a terrorist organization. Because, “Who looks more like terrorists than BPO?”

“Technically, aren’t they terrorists?” Rajan asked. “If they attack innocent civilians in a violent manner…”

“I’d call them more of a global crime organization,” Bug opined.

They had to check out the gas Kala had created. Rajan, aware of Kala’s skills, stood at a distance, and after a minute he still couldn’t stand the smell of it. He and all the others went to another room as she closed off the canister. Lito and Hernando were coughing and wheezing, slapping each other on the back. When Kala emerged, they all congratulated her.

Rajan had only one question. “How would you like me to be involved in this plan? How can I help?”

“Well, we can always use another body at the club. We need eyes everywhere,” Will said.

“Right,” Kala said. “Do you guys mind if I talk to Rajan for a minute, alone?”

They all shrugged. And she pulled him off into a corner again.

“You don’t need to worry about me,” Rajan said. “I can handle a little danger. I know I’m not experienced like some of your friends, but if it’s a risk you’re taking, it’s a risk I’m taking as well.” He knew Kala would be on the front lines at the club, setting up the gas canister and working with a couple others to facilitate the exchange. He had to be by her side, supporting her. She would be in danger—how could he not go with her?

“That’s…I’m sorry, that’s not it.”

She hadn’t apologized to him about this for some time. And she wasn’t meeting his eyes. “My love, what’s wrong?”

“It’s not…Rajan, do you know why I am going into that club? Why I am the one supposed to get Wolfgang out?”

“Well, your skills are best suited for it. I would assume Will cannot be spared from handling Whispers—that seems to be his main function—and Nomi’s group is needed to manage things in the van. Obviously you care about this Wolfgang…”

“Yes, obviously.” Kala smiled. Her eyes were watery. “I’m sorry. I should have told you this when I first explained matters to you. Wolfgang and I are lovers.”

Rajan…

Rajan wasn’t sure how to feel about that.

Part of him felt like the floor had dropped out from under his feet. Kala was meant to be his loyal wife. She was his love match, but also his dutiful second half. His father, his family, would be shocked to find out she had cheated on him—shocked and a little smug, as they had never liked her all that much. They would call her a slut, a whore…

None of those labels suited Kala. None of them suited the woman he had known as a worker in his company, the woman he married, the woman who sat in front of him with downturned eyes about to overflow with tears.

And then there was the part of him that felt almost relieved. Part of him that had been waiting for a catch for the longest time. That had known Kala’s doubts came from somewhere—that it was all some conspiracy of telepathy was too good to be true, it had been obvious she was troubled by her confused feelings for him, not just some other matter. Another man. It all made sense. Now he could stop wondering why it was he felt insufficient, why she was so unsure around him. She loved someone else.

He was the villain in a Bollywood movie that she married more out of duty than love. He was the cheated husband. He let the label fall onto him and found it fit better than he would have expected.

And what was he supposed to do now? Rage at her? Demand an explanation? Ask how long it had been going on, ask her if she even loved him? She had kissed him earlier and he had felt that she did love him, felt it for the first time in so long. Yet. “Are lovers.” Present tense. She loved this Wolfgang too. What was he supposed to do with that?

He cleared his throat. “You and…Wolfgang Bogdanow?”

“Yes. We are lovers…sort of. It’s complicated. But I love him. And we’re not just…friends, like me and Capheus or me and Will. The way I feel for him…I’m sorry. I can’t help it.”

He touched her arm, gently. He always tried to be gentle with her, just like she clearly always tried to do right by him. He knew her good heart. Maybe she had been unfaithful to him—with how cluster members could visit each other it would have been easy. Maybe she had only pined and longed, and felt trapped by him. But either way he knew she meant well by him, would never have meant to hurt him. And either way, it couldn’t matter right now. What mattered now was that she was hurting and this Wolfgang, a man she loved and who he suspected loved her back, was in danger.

He was her husband. He was on her side. He had to help her.

“You love this man, and you have felt him being tortured,” he said.

“Yes.”

“And he has been held by BPO for weeks, while you’ve been trying to rescue him, so far without success.”

“Yes.”

He took her shoulders in his hands. “I can’t imagine the pain you’ve been going through. If I ever were to lose you in that way, even for a brief time, I would go insane.” He pulled her into a hug. Not a kiss. Not right now. “My love, you have been suffering. Let me be here for you.”

And there, in his arms, she began to cry.

He held her. Through her sobs, she told him she was sorry. She told him that she loved him. She said again and again, she couldn’t help it, couldn’t help who she loved.

He wanted to ask how things would change when (if? No, he had to be positive about this, when) they rescued Wolfgang. Now that she had told him, would she feel free to leave him? Was Wolfgang the man she wanted to build a life with, or was that still Rajan? Had it ever been Rajan?

The way she held him, at least, it didn’t seem like she wanted him to leave. It seemed like she wanted him to be there with her. That was his hope. That, and the months they had spent together as man and wife—he would have to trust they were strong enough to get through this. And try to be patient.

“There is nothing for you to be sorry for,” he told her. “If there is, I forgive you. But the movements of the heart? I have always been weak to them myself.” No one in his family had wanted him to marry her. But he had. “If you love him, then love him. I will not stop you. Only I hope there is still room in your heart for me. I cannot stop wanting you.” He swallowed. His throat was tight, but this was not his time to cry. He had to be strong for her. “I will never stop wanting you.”

“Rajan.” She gripped him forcefully, head on his chest. “Rajan.”

When they emerged from the room, the others gave Rajan hard looks, but Kala was clutching his sleeve and they one by one refocused on discussing the mission. Rajan was assigned to be with Kala in the club. They were going to get Wolfgang out.

“We need as many eyes on Sans Jour as possible,” Will said. “And look out for weapons. Metal detectors will help, but we should assume they won’t play by the rules.”

Rajan was going to meet his wife’s lover. He wanted to feel antagonistic about it but his wife’s lover was also a man who had spent the past few weeks being tortured for information about his wife’s location and had refused to break. So.

He was a stronger man than Rajan, honestly. Rajan determined to treat him with respect. Whatever choice Kala made, Wolfgang was another side of her. And like watching Lito’s movies, meeting Wolfgang would be just another part of loving Kala. A bit harder. But still necessary.

He would thank the man for protecting Kala. Hopefully, for Kala’s sake, they could get along.

* * *

 

So Rajan drove in a van with a squad of ill-trained vigilantes and an old man on a leash. He was careful to avoid eye contact with the latter. Not so much because of the visiting thing they kept mentioning—he was a “sapient”, that didn’t affect him—but because it was just weird. The whole thing was still weird, but the man they had on a leash was probably the weirdest part, forget the telepathy.

The club’s lights flashed blue and dark. Rajan danced with Kala on the crowded floor. They’d never done this before—not in their informal courtship, not on their honeymoon, and never since. He felt hot with nerves, but hotter when her body brushed against his. Last night had changed things between them. He had expected it to make him feel awkward around her, but it somehow had done the opposite. Ever since then, she had been acting more open near him, more like they were the team he had always wanted them to be. And when she said she loved him, even racked with guilt, it had been real. Seeing her so vulnerable made him want to protect her. It also—and he felt horrible for this—turned him on.

Seeing her in full alert mode was also kind of a turn on. He’d always admired her competence, and her clothes tonight really suited her too. It had been ages since they’d last slept together. Damn it. Staying focused tonight would be difficult.

He was probably going to get them all killed.

 _There is no white light_ , the music murmured in an intoxicating monotone. _There is no white light…_

Kala said, “Do you see that woman?”

And he did. Lavish outfit, neat bun.

“Keep us close to her.”

Noise. Noise that sounded like violence, even over the music. Rajan moved them closer to the woman, closer, closer. A glint of metal. Shit. “She’s holding a gun.”

“No!”

Kala lunged forward. A gun went off as Rajan watched her hair fly up in a wave. The two women were going down together. A man in a leather jacket was struggling to get away from the two. His hair seemed a light blue in the flashing lights. Wolfgang, Wolfgang, that had to be Wolfgang—Rajan had seen photos but it was hard to get a fix on him. No. Focus. Two thrashing bodies, one metallic gun going this way and that. Rajan grabbed it for a minute, and something hit him in the face, sent him stumbling back. He fell into a hard chest. He looked up, and sure enough, that was Wolfgang.

Even after weeks of torture, the weight of Rajan’s fall didn’t make him flinch. He looked down with an inscrutable expression. Maybe a touch of familiarity.

Rajan snapped his gaze back to the front, but Lila had vanished, and so had Kala. A hissing noise. There was a hint of the gas in the air, and people jostled against him and Wolfgang, heading towards the exits. Rajan turned to face Wolfgang, whose first question was, “Where’s Kala?”

“I don’t know.”

Wolfgang blinked, then said, “Come on, let’s go. Come on!” He grabbed Rajan’s arm and started heading to the exit, following the stream. Rajan blindly followed. Surely this was the opposite of how it was supposed to go—wasn’t he supposed to saving Wolfgang, not the other way around? But his certainty reminded Rajan of Kala. Just another aspect of her, he remembered. Another self.

They all made it to the van. Wolfgang looked right among the others, who all hugged him, though briefly since they had to sit down when the van started moving. Rajan felt a bit the odd man out but Wolfgang had at some point took hold of his hand and he still hadn’t let go. As the others chattered, he saw Wolfgang zone out for a minute, a wistful expression on his face. When he came back, he said, “Kala was asking after you.”

Rajan coughed. “Well, I’m fine.”

Wolfgang looked him up and down. He smirked slightly. “Yeah. How’d you get pulled into all of this?”

“Well…Kala is my wife. I followed her.”

“Yeah. Your wife.” Wolfgang glanced at the floor, then back up. He met Rajan’s gaze head on, not quite challenging, but not really not challenging either.

Now was not the time to discuss what Kala was to both of them. “And how are you? I am told you have been tortured.”

“You were told right.”

Despite his nerves (and how like Kala) Wolfgang was still holding Rajan’s hand. Rajan squeezed it. “I do not know what BPO does to people like you. But I am glad you are safe. On my wife’s behalf, and on my own.”

“Well. I’m pretty happy about it too.” Wolfgang’s lips curled back up into a smile.

Given a couple hours, maybe a couple days, Rajan could have analyzed exactly how the wry light of that smile made him feel. But the van was swerving and suddenly they were at a crime scene. Three dead men and a missing Whispers.

Wolfgang told Rajan, “Nomi says it was Lila. She set us up.”

Rajan nodded. “Lila…Facchini. The woman who got you tortured in the first place.”

“She’s quite an opponent,” Wolfgang said. “Well.” He climbed back into the van, and the others followed.

But he’d let go of Rajan’s hand as he examined the crime scene, and now Rajan put his hands in his pockets. They felt oddly cold. He listened to Sun and Riley and Will talk to Wolfgang, tell him how glad they were he was back, fill him in on all he’d missed. He wanted to be interested in all the details. He had, after all, much to learn. Yet as the four excitedly celebrated their reunion and anxiously discussed the dangers still ahead, he leaned back against the wall of the van and let the vibrations rock his head. Clunk. Clunk. Clunk.

He tried to get a nap. He was still caught in jet lag to a certain extent after flying from India to Paris, and he could probably use the rest. The aftereffects of adrenalin, too, had left him exhausted. But every time he tried to zone out, Wolfgang’s voice would pull him out of his thoughts and back to the surface. He found himself analyzing even the man’s body language, how it was similar to Kala’s (hardly), how it might complement Kala’s. Picturing Kala sitting beside him, maybe between him and Rajan. Which of them would she turn to? The man she married, or the man she loved?

She loved Rajan too, of course. He didn’t even feel jealousy right now. Only exhaustion. And a feeling that, looking at Wolfgang’s form, slumped with exhaustion and yet still strong, he couldn’t really blame her. He was the sort of man Rajan would have loved too.

At least he hadn’t seemed horrified to see Rajan in that club. Confused, maybe, but not stunned as a man caught in flagrante delicto. Above all, Rajan didn’t want to create some sort of competition between Wolfgang and himself. They were running from a criminal organization and also (sort of) the law. It was not the time.

And it would never be the time to hurt Kala.

Their eventual destination was nicer than the apartment they’d been in before. They’d changed bases again, and apparently they were moving up in the world.

Kala was with Hernando, Lito and Daniela still, Wolfgang told him. He seemed to have taken it as his responsibility to report on her wellbeing to Rajan, from one of her lovers to another. It was a little amusing, but Rajan appreciated it. Kala and the other three would be staying out of the way for a little while because they’d been caught up in a police-related traffic jam. They’d found a room at a hotel (for some reason Wolfgang smirked at that) and would be staying the night.

“There’s enough rooms for you to have one here,” Wolfgang added.

Rajan said, “Yes, I’m aware. I was there when we made this plan.” Though he’d only followed about half of it. “You don’t need to play host. You just escaped from weeks of torture…”

“Yeah, go get some rest, Wolfgang,” Amanita said. She hugged him hard and fierce. Of the sapients she was the most connected to the cluster, and the happiest to see Wolfgang here and alive and mostly well. Wolfgang smiled fondly as he hugged her back, and he followed her into the building. In turn, Rajan followed Riley, who showed him a nice room with a thin bed. It was quite a big building. Rajan had no idea how they got ahold of it but thank God—their squad at this point was more than a dozen people and they needed the space.

He lay down, but couldn’t sleep. Stood up instead, and looked out the window into the darkness. Out there somewhere Kala was with her friends, probably more comfortable with them than she would be here with him. He wondered if Wolfgang was visiting her, spiritually if not physically, if they were celebrating his near escape together.

He was happy for them. And yet, he was not entirely happy.

There was a knock on his door. He answered it. Wolfgang stood in the doorway. “May I come in?”

“Oh. Certainly.” Rajan stepped aside.

Wolfgang sat down on the bed. “The others were insistent on me getting some sleep. I didn’t want to bother them, but…I don’t think I could.”

“I don’t think I could either,” Rajan said. “You’ve had a very hard time. But it’s over now.”

“It’s over. I’m free.” Wolfgang crossed his arms. “I know that, but it’s hard for me to believe it.”

What was Rajan supposed to say to him? He tried to think of what his wife might say. She loved this man; surely she would know how to comfort him. Why hadn’t he gone to her? He doubted Kala would have told him to just go to bed.

“I’m sorry to bother you,” Wolfgang said.

“No. No! You’re no bother. I’m glad to help, if I’m somehow helping, I just…how am I helping? You don’t know me.”

Wolfgang chuckled. “I do know you. I drop in on Kala now and then.” He patted the bed next to him and Rajan sat down. “I visited her because…”

“I know you two are lovers,” Rajan said after Wolfgang paused, seemingly lost for words. “Kala told me when she told me about the cluster. I know, and I do not judge you. If that’s something you’re worried about, don’t be.”

“You’re a good man,” Wolfgang said. “Good for her. I’ve always thought she deserves someone like you.” He pushed hands into the comforter. “I liked to visit her because she felt safe. Her, and your world. You were a part of that world too.” He looked at Rajan, brows furrowed, so much like Kala. “You feel like safety.”

Rajan swallowed. “Well, if you want to take safety from my presence, go ahead.”

Wolfgang nodded. He apparently interpreted that as an invitation to lie down in the bed and pull the comforters up, because that was what he did. Rajan remained at the window for a while, until he saw Wolfgang was asleep. Then he snuck into the bed beside him. He knew for a fact that he didn’t spoon, so it shouldn’t be too awkward. Besides, this man had already (probably) slept with his wife—how much more intimate could two people get?

* * *

 

So, what did a group of about a dozen people on the run from a criminal organization do when one of their missions came off as a half success while they were hiding in the middle of nowhere in France? Apparently they partied.

Well, a little. It was more of a casual garden party, but everyone was obviously psyched. It seemed two minutes couldn’t pass without someone hugging Wolfgang or kissing him on the cheek (or occasionally the lips—they were that kind of group, Rajan supposed) or almost breaking down entirely just at the sight of him. How did Rajan know this? First, because they did this very loudly. Second, because while he tried to give Wolfgang some distance so that he could talk to all his family, it seemed that they somehow always ended up standing next to each other again. Rajan would wander back and hover over Wolfgang’s chair, or Wolfgang would call him back over or lean over and touch his arm. He felt oddly protective of Wolfgang right now. Sure, everyone in the group clearly felt the same way (the man had been tortured) but Rajan felt protective of him even in this group, in this safe place.

“You feel like safety,” Wolfgang had said last night. Had said to a man who by all rights ought to be his rival.

It was ridiculous, especially since from what he’d heard Wolfgang was a fighter and a strong man and could certainly protect himself better than Rajan, but Rajan wanted to live up to that somehow. Be Wolfgang’s safety.

Still. It was something of a stupid impulse. He forced himself to walk away and stand closer to the gate, watch the road. Rides had gotten mixed up somehow, and Kala still wasn’t here. Surely when she was here he would be sane again. He would be able to ground himself in reality.

He heard Wolfgang approaching and turned. Funny how he could already recognize the sound of Wolfgang’s footsteps. Wolfgang was holding a bottle of wine, and he poured out a little for Rajan. “They’ll be here soon.” He looked up. “Rajan, most men wouldn’t have done what you did for me.”

It was obvious he was talking about the rescue, not about the later events of last night. Rajan bit his lip. “I did what I could.” He hadn’t done as much as many of the others. Wolfgang’s intense gratitude was a little bit much.

Wolfgang nodded slightly. Still so serious. “I’ll never forget it.”

Rajan smiled. They clinked glasses and drank.

Wolfgang sighed. He’d lost his solemn air, and his shoulders were relaxed. “This might be the best wine I’ve ever drank.”

“It is certainly good,” Rajan agreed. Small talk.

“Of course that probably makes me a traitor. I should like German wines. My best friend owns a club, you know,” Wolfgang said.

“Really?”

“One of the best clubs in Berlin. I’ll have to tell you how he got it sometime. It has some good wines.” Wolfgang took a long swallow of his drink and then tilted it to catch the light. “But this tastes like freedom. Victory.”

He smiled at Rajan, a twisted, smirking smile that wasn’t hostile but was a little sly. “That’s what I have in my glass. Have a taste.”

They were drinking from the exact same bottle—Wolfgang had poured, after all. But Rajan reached out for the cup. Wolfgang didn’t hand it to him. Instead, he stood and took hold of the back of Rajan’s neck. He raised the cup to Rajan’s lips and gently poured a little wine into his mouth.

Rajan swished the liquid around in his mouth and then swallowed. “You’re right. It’s different.” He smiled, hoping he didn’t look as twitchy as he felt under Wolfgang’s half-amused, half-solemn gaze. “To freedom.”

Wolfgang stepped back, and they clinked glasses again, and drank. Day drinking. Rajan hoped he wouldn’t pick up bad habits over this…vacation.

They heard a car and turned. “Here they come,” Wolfgang said. Kala at last.

The car parked, but no one climbed out for a long minute. Then the door opened, and there was Kala. She was wearing the clothes from the club last night, and she still looked so beautiful. He was relieved to see her well. She tilted her head back as he approached, and let him kiss her. When he pulled away after a moment, she chuckled, but her eyes were soft and wondering. “Rajan, you are so much more than the man I thought I married.”

She hugged him, and he rubbed his face against her neck. She’d never minded his stubble, which was very patient of her to be honest. Over his shoulder he could feel Wolfgang’s eyes on them, but Kala’s grip on his back only tightened. She did not step out of his arms for a long minute. Then, finally, she went to Wolfgang, who was smiling at them.

She kissed him. It was not as great a shock to see that as Rajan might have thought. Then she lifted her legs and wrapped them around his waist, and Wolfgang twirled her around, light as a feather. It was a trick Rajan would not have been able to accomplish easily. They looked good together. Two halves of a whole.

But what did that make Rajan?

“So much more than the one I thought I married,” she’d said. And who had she thought he was, and what did she think of him now?

As day turned to night, the party only gained in energy. More food, higher spirits. Rajan was sent down to the house’s wine cellar (it actually had a wine celler. Because it was France.) to get more wine, and he emerged with bubbly, which he lifted high in the air. Everyone cheered and clapped. So, if he was not Wolfgang, at least he was welcome. Lito counted off as Rajan popped the top off one of the bottles—Daniela had commandeered the other.

Rajan poured wine into Kala’s glass. She laughed. “Have you ever tried it yet?”

“Ah, I haven’t yet.” But he’d drunk from Wolfgang’s victory glass, which apparently was the best wine in the world, so he still counted himself as experienced. “To my friend Jean-Pierre,” he said when all the glasses were full, and they clinked over the table.

Wolfgang stood before anyone could drink. “Wait. I want to say something.” The group settled. He coughed. “I have lived much of my life with one friend, my one brother. And I never knew what it was like to…have people in your life who would fight for someone like me.”

Kala was looking up at Wolfgang, and she had the fondest look in her eyes that Rajan had ever seen.

“Thank you.”

“You big German lug.” Lito got out of his seat, and apparently it was time for hugging Wolfgang again. “We love you.”

Kala was the second to give Wolfgang a hug—she was close enough, certainly. When Wolfgang hugged her back, he gave her a kiss on the top of her head as well. Rajan squeezed her and rubbed Wolfgang’s shoulder. No one could doubt he was a man worth saving, worth fighting for. Even having known him for only a day, Rajan could say that much.

And then the night got kind of weird. A visitor had arrived—Bodhi? The name sounded vaguely familiar—which meant it was time for business again rather than pleasure. The sensates in the group all zoned out simultaneously, leaving Rajan, Mun, Hernando, Daniela, Bug and Amanita in a room that was suddenly quiet.

Rajan took another sip of his wine. It didn’t taste like freedom. A little like celebration, perhaps even a little bittersweet. His wife and Wolfgang had gone somewhere he couldn’t follow, but he would be there when they got back.

* * *

 

Naples. They were going to Naples.

Well, if his impromptu vacation had turned into a mission to destroy an evil medical corporation, at least he was getting a lot of mileage out of it. He didn’t quite follow how they had found out Whispers’ location or why they were going straight to him but oh well. Kala said they were going to Naples so to Naples they would go.

His car was Kala, Wolfgang and Capheus. His wife, his lover, and the best car-driver available. Actually he probably should get to know Capheus better. He needed to know the cluster better one on one.

“Can you believe a couple days ago I thought the worst thing in my life was being subpoenaed for a corruption trial and today I’m heading to Naples to stop a nefarious organization from using a secret human species, which my wife is a member of, as suicide assassins?”

“What was that, Rajan?” Capheus looked over, very serious.

With how weird life was lately, it wasn’t even worth repeating. “I said…things change so fast.”

“Ah. Like driving on clouds, eh?” Capheus chuckled.

“Yeah, like driving on clouds.” Whatever that meant. At least it felt apt.

Capheus cranked up the music in the car, and out the window he flapped his hand to the rhythm in the breeze. Rajan swayed, and in the backseat, Kala and Wolfgang moved to the beat as well.

_“I feeeeeeel you…the joy it brings…”_

Kala was leaning out the back of the car, hair flying in the breeze. He’d never seen her look so free as she did now, on the run like an outlaw. It suited her. The way she laughed suited her. And then the way she danced opposite Wolfgang, poking at his chest and tossing her head as he danced back at her, that suited her as well.

_“This is the morning of our loooooove…”_

The morning sun was bright but not so hot as to be oppressive. They were on an adventure, and good music was playing. Rajan pumped his fists, and when Capheus glanced over and caught his eye, he smiled.

Out the window the ocean was wide and expansive. He was beginning to smell the seawater when they pulled up by the side of the road. There sat a car, and on the hood of the car sat a man in the most tourist-y shirt Rajan had ever seen.

Wolfgang was already sitting half out of the car before they even stopped, and as soon as they were almost parked he vaulted out and into the tourist man’s arms. This, then, was Felix.

He had no more trouble picking Felix up than he did Kala, and maybe looked even more excited about it. “Oh my God!” Felix yelled. “Oh my God! I can’t believe you’re here and not in lots of little pieces.” He paused, face sober. “Wolfie, I was worried this time.”

“Glad to see you too, brother.” They hugged.

Someday, Rajan supposed, he would go a full hour without seeing someone hug Wolfgang. For now, though, it was acceptable.

Capheus darted forward. “Haha, my brother Felix!” He was as big as Wolfgang and just as able to pick Felix up. Was anyone in the cluster not ripped? He spoke rapidly in Swahili as Wolfgang introduced him.

“This is Capheus.”

“Oh.” Felix shook his hand. He seemed confused, but when he saw Kala his face cleared. “You must be India Plan.”

So Wolfgang had talked about Kala. Funny—Kala had never talked about Wolfgang or, well, any of this. But then, Wolfgang did seem less closed off than Kala overall. At any rate, it was encouraging. If Rajan needed any further proof that Wolfgang really loved Kala, cared for her as she deserved, here it was.

“I’m Kala. It’s nice to finally meet.” Kala did seem enchanted. Probably had dropped in on Felix the way Wolfgang said he’d dropped in on Rajan. More family.

Rajan’s family was growing at an incredible rate.

“Nice to meet you, too.”

“And I’m Rajan,” Rajan said, as Kala stepped back.

“Hey.” They shook hands.

“My husband,” Kala said, nodding at him.

Felix nodded, brow creasing. He turned to Wolfgang and gave him a look. Wolfgang shrugged. “It’s complicated.”

At least Rajan wasn’t the only one confused. Funny to hear it from Wolfgang, though. Wolfgang always seemed so confident. Well, in the brief time that they’d known each other, at least.

“Well.” Felix stepped back. “Let me show you something that’s not complicated.” He opened the trunk of his car to reveal two huge guns.

Literally Rajan was living in a movie at this point. He should have accepted it when he first arrived but these things still startled him. Two. Huge. Guns.

“Compliments of Sebastian Fuchs.” Had that name even come up before? “Herr Fuchs is a strong believer in the moral necessity of revenge and he hopes these gifts will be useful to you against, and I quote, ‘the Neapolitan bitch’.” Felix waited as if expecting someone to laugh at the turn of phrase. Rajan tried to, just to be polite, but he was still wrapping his head around the Two Huge Guns. “He included your favorite toy, for old time’s sake.”

And that was when Felix handed Wolfgang an actual rocket launcher.

Capheus laughed. Wolfgang pointed the launcher at him jokingly and Capheus backed up, holding his hands in front of him in surrender.

They chatted a while longer. Then Wolfgang zoned out. Apparently Will was talking to him, and then (Kala reported) a rendezvous in Naples with Lila Facchini. He returned to reality with a wolfish smirk. “The battle is on,” he said.

“We’re in a fucking battle for Naples now?” Felix asked. “Or are we just out for revenge? Are you going to explain to me what’s going on now? Not that I wouldn’t shoot a rocket at her face already but I feel like I might be missing some information.”

“I’ll explain things. We’ve come to a point where I should.” Wolfgang paused. “Actually. Kala, you explained things to Rajan?”

“With help,” Kala said.

Rajan patted her hand. “You did a good job. Very…succinct and believable. To the extent that any of this can be believed.”

“There’s not much I’m not ready to believe, man,” Felix said. “I could tell you some goddamn stories…”

“I think I’ll leave this to you,” Wolfgang said. “You can probably explain it better than me.” He pointed to Felix’s car. “You two ride together. I’ll ride with Capheus and Rajan and visit.”

“Okay. But we better get back together in the city,” Felix warned him. “You’re not disappearing on me again.”

“I’m not leaving you now.” Wolfgang smiled. “Kala will explain.”

In the car, Rajan asked Wolfgang, “Don’t you want to ride with him?”

“I can’t leave Capheus to drive alone,” Wolfgang said.

“I could…”

Wolfgang gave him a look. Rajan, unsure what it meant, trailed off.

After a moment, Wolfgang said, “You might expect Felix to be to me what you are to Kala.”

“Is he?”

“Not even slightly. Felix is Felix, and you are you.” Wolfgang put a hand on Rajan’s shoulder. “The lucky thing about having a cluster is I get so many new people in my life. I didn’t used to think I needed anyone else. But it feels like there were empty parts of me that I didn’t even know about, and now they are filled.”

“And am I a peg that fits one of your holes?” Rajan asked, cocking his head. He liked the idea. Being something to this man…

Wolfgang’s eyes widened. His mouth twitched.

Capheus yelled something in Swahili, and Wolfgang yelled something back in German. Rajan couldn’t speak either language. He asked them, “What?”

“It’s nothing, it’s nothing,” Wolfgang said.

“Am I missing something?”

“Yes,” Capheus said. “Yes, you are.”

“It’s nothing.” Wolfgang’s teeth were gritted.

Rajan nodded skeptically. “Sure. It’s nothing.”

And then they were in Naples. Which, as it turned out, was a city with very good pizza.

“If I had to choose a final meal,” Felix announced as they all moaned their way through a slice, “it would be pizza.”

Rajan, who thoroughly agreed, said, “I spent a while here in a hospital bed, and I have never eaten so well.” European food, to be fair, but so delicious. It had been his comfort in a time of great…stupidity.

Felix gaped. “I was in a hospital too! Terrible food, man.” He was still chewing as he talked. “What happened to you?”

He could laugh about it in retrospect. “It’s probably the funniest honeymoon story you’ve ever heard.” Though the other three, if they did commune with Kala, probably already knew it, at least Felix could enjoy it.

Kala touched his shoulder. “Rajan, right now is probably not the best time to tell them.”

But Wolfgang raised a conspiratory eyebrow. Yes. He definitely knew this story. Rajan clinked glasses with him, and they drank to a painfully embarrassing memory.

* * *

 

They were infiltrating a heavily guarded building…by means of a tour bus.

Rajan was mostly nervous about the part where the bus was going to explode.

“Don’t worry, my bombs are very effective,” Kala reassured him.

“…that’s what I’m worried about,” Rajan muttered. But hey, they were already going up against men with revolvers and machine guns. What difference did a huge explosion make?

Wolfgang patted him on the back. “I’m sure you’ll be fine.” He was wearing a pink tourist jacket, and when Rajan gave it a look he grinned. “Do I look good?”

“…yes.” He really, truly, weirdly did.

The plan went about as well as it could have. No one was killed by the explosion, and quite a few people were killed by Wolfgang and Will shooting them. So…Rajan was officially involved with murderers, but then, it was not Wolfgang’s first time from what Rajan had heard.

Kala led him up the stairs. She was talking to someone who wasn’t there. “Was that Nomi? What’s happening?”

“Weren’t you listening? We don’t know exactly where they’re holding Whispers. We’re all covering different sections.”

“Yeah, but what if—”

A man appeared in front of them with a gun. Kala grabbed his hand, sent him to the ground and shot another man around the corner. Bang bang bang bang.

“My wife…”

Kala turned around, slowly lowering the gun.

“You’re a killer!”

She huffed, and smiled apologetically, the way she did when she made a social faux pas in front of his family or spilled food during a meal. “I’m sorry.” She stepped closer, looking down at the gun in her own hand. His wife. His deadly wife.

There was a gun on the floor where the man had dropped it. Rajan picked it up. “Can you teach me?”

Kala paused, smiled. Her stance spread out and her eyes glinted. “Okay, first, this isn’t a real gun. It’s a taser.” She took it from him and tossed it to the ground. Held out a different weapon. “This is a gun.”

“Okay.”

“This is the safety.”

“All right.”

“Do not point unless you’re sure about the target, okay?”

They walked quietly. Room to room, room to room. Kala still paused to talk to others who weren’t really there, and Rajan tried to grasp what they were talking about but often it wasn’t even in Hindi or English.

They separated at one point while she was talking. He just turned around and she wasn’t there. Where had she gone?

There were sounds of shooting. He took a deep breath. Didn’t necessarily mean anything bad. They both had guns here, both teams—armies? Squads? Sides?—had guns. Hell, even he had a gun. It was fine. He just had to keep walking, and keep his gun in front of him…

More shooting. And a cry.

There had been yells before, but this one sounded familiar.

Rajan hurried his pace, though he still tried to walk quietly. When he saw the pink jacket through the door, the outline kneeling and the outline lying there, he already knew. His gun hand dropped, and he walked forward, though he could barely bring himself to move.

When he got closer, he could see the details. The blood on Kala’s stomach. The way her eyes were closed. The blankness of her face.

No. Impossible.

Telepathy might be possible, but his wife, his beautiful wife, dying? That was not. That couldn’t be. “Kala.” He knelt. “Kala.” Her head was in his hands, and he brought their foreheads together. She did not respond to him. “Kala! Kala. My love. My love.”

But beside him, Wolfgang straightened. Two words pierced Rajan’s panic. “You’re alive.”

He bolted upright. “She’s alive?”

“She’s alive!” Wolfgang paused. “What do I do?”

He seemed to be listening (to Kala? To someone else?) as he lowered Kala’s head and upper body. Rajan hurriedly took off his coat to cushion her head. “Oh, my love.”

Wolfgang took off his pink coat as well. He handed it to Rajan. “Press that. Press it on the wound.”

“Oh God.”

“Harder.”

He pushed down hard. Keeps the blood in, he thought. Logically that made sense but all he could think was that he was pressing down on his wife’s wound and how could this possibly help things?

He tried to think of his medical training. He wasn’t as good as Kala, but he did have some. “We should, we should keep her blood moving. Okay.” He started chest compressions, but he couldn’t feel any response. “Her heart, it’s not beating, it’s not beating!”

Compressions wouldn’t be enough. They wouldn’t. They needed better equipment, preferably a defibrillator…wait. An electrical shock. An electrical shock!

Leaving Kala to Wolfgang he ran out the door and down the stairs. The taser was where Kala had dropped it earlier—now that he knew the shape, it was certainly not a gun, though it looked similar enough. They would be shooting his wife to save her from a gunshot wound. He ran back as fast as he could.

“Wolfgang! How about this?”

Wolfgang snatched it and attached some wires. But Rajan’s hands pressed down on the trigger, and at the sound of static sparking, Kala’s back arched and she choked. Her eyes flew open, her mouth gaped. “My wife! Kala. Oh my God. Oh my God.”

And as he trembled, as he prayed to whatever gods his wife believed in that he never had, Wolfgang kissed her and she weakly kissed him back, murmuring love to him.

Her hand strayed to Rajan’s arm. “My husband.”

“My wife.” He kissed her urgently. He could not be as tender, as gentle, as Wolfgang. He’d never been good in times of crisis and he’d almost just lost her and it was more than he could bear.

“You’re a genius.”

As if he deserved any credit. He’d nearly frozen up and let her die. “My love, now what do we do?”

“Take her to the hospital,” Wolfgang prompted.

“Yeah! Yeah.”

“No no, we have to get Lila.” Kala remained focused on the mission. And of course that was very important, but she could die. Rajan wanted to say something to that effect, but her eyes were focused on something behind him. They were being visited. He was beginning to know the signs very well.

Wolfgang was out of focus as well. Rajan coughed. “Her body to a hospital,” he insisted. “I don’t care where else you two are, but at least, we must see to her wound.”

“Yeah. Of course.” Wolfgang started walking again. They took her out to the car. Rajan drove—anyone else would be too distracted at this point. And he hoped, he really did, that their mission would succeed, but it couldn’t be his priority right now. His mission was different. It always had been protective Kala and it still was now.

Naples traffic was not amazing. That said, Naples hospital was great. It was the only time Rajan had been thankful for breaking his…you know…several months ago; thanks to that they had connections. Although, with a gunshot wound, Kala was hustled through the emergency room fast enough in any case.

Leaving Rajan and Wolfgang in the waiting room. “So…we shot down Lila,” Wolfgang said.

Rajan refocused. “Oh. Did we?”

“I would have told you, but you were distracted. As you should have been.”

“I’m glad we got her. Whispers too?”

“Whispers, the chairman, Lila…Well, a lot happened in a very short time. I’m not even sure of it all myself,” Wolfgang said. “Thanks for getting Kala here. I know I was out of it.”

“I’m her husband. It was my duty. You had other duties at the time.” At some point he’d taken Wolfgang’s hand. He wasn’t sure when. “Taking them down, you’re saving her as much as I.”

“I have mixed feelings,” Wolfgang said. “Part of me is full of joy. It’s all going to be over now.”

“Is it?”

“Yes. I think so. And that makes me happy. But I almost lost her, and I almost lost Felix. For a while there I almost lost myself too.”

Rajan cleared his throat. “I still don’t know Felix well.”

“You two did seem to get along, though.”

“But I know you. And I’m glad you didn’t die. And Kala…” Rajan’s voice broke. “God. I would have been dead myself if I had lost her.”

Maybe he’d been wanting to cry for days now, ever since he first realized Kala’s life was in danger. He broke down, and Wolfgang held him and rubbed his back. Strong arms. “She’s going to be fine. We’re going to get through this.”

And Rajan realized that “we” meant all three of them now, maybe even the three of them and the cluster as well. It wasn’t Rajan and Kala or Wolfgang and Kala, it was all of them. No one had to be left behind.

After surgery, they were both let into Kala’s room, and though at first the doctors were unwilling to let Wolfgang in, Rajan persuaded them otherwise. They kissed Kala and told her they were happy she was all right.

The doctor seemed amused to see Rajan. At least his opening comment seemed more directed at Rajan than Kala. “So you’re back again, only this time you did not dodge the bullet.”

He laughed much too hard at his own joke. Wolfgang looked puzzled. Maybe Rajan was wrong about him knowing the details of that incident.

He prescribed pain killers and a lot of rest, but said overall Kala seemed fine, considering the circumstances. He also was oddly uncurious about how exactly she’d gotten shot. Fucking Naples.

* * *

 

Nomi and Amanita’s wedding was beautiful. Rajan barely knew them, but he still almost cried—after his own disaster of a wedding he felt relieved to see it go off without a hitch. And of course it was obvious that they loved each other, and that they were very important people to his wife.

Also, the dance party afterwards was amazing. Rajan had been excited to dance with his wife in a club about a week ago when it was literally for a mission, but this was, obviously, much better. Fireworks went off in the sky. Wolfgang draped an arm around Rajan’s shoulder and they bounced up and down, up and down. He was full of energy, the adrenalin rush from fighting evil not yet worn off. Kala was in front of them staring at the sky. Sandwiched between her and Wolfgang, he felt comfortable, secure.

Maybe Wolfgang thought Rajan felt like safety, but after such a short amount of time, Rajan was beginning to think of Wolfgang the same way. And of course, to him, Kala had always been…not safety but perhaps his rock, his star to steer by. His woman. He didn’t know how else to put it.

Riley’s father played a song on a guitar. He was old but he played well, and the song was slow and sweet. Rajan handed Kala off to Wolfgang and stood back for a minute as they danced, watching how well they moved together, until Kala reached back and took his hand, and they danced as three. He looked over Kala’s shoulder into Wolfgang’s eyes and found Wolfgang was smiling at him tenderly.

He smiled back.

The beat changed then, from a slow romance to an upbeat jam. Probably for the best—if Wolfgang kept on looking at Rajan like that he was going to do something, probably something stupid. Kala twirled away from them as they moved into a faster beat, swaying hips and waving arms. Rajan danced at Wolfgang with the skills he’d used at the party to celebrate his wedding to Kala, when everyone had clapped for the two of them and Kala had mostly just looked embarrassed. Wolfgang didn’t look embarrassed to be the center of his attention. He just looked entertained.

Eventually Kala rejoined them, and danced between them. She was maybe a little tipsy. Rajan had always admired the way she moved her hands. Like a princess of Bollywood, his beautiful wife.

At last they gathered into a group at the center of the floor. Rajan told Nomi what he and Kala had agreed on. “As a wedding present, we want to send you wherever you wish for your honeymoon.” Anything for family.

“We insist,” said Kala.

“That is so sweet,” said Nomi.

Amanita said, “But…there’s only one place that we want to go.”

This turned out to mean the suite they had reserved downstairs. (Which meant they were really just putting the question off…Rajan and Kala would approach them about it again later.) It was a lovely suite, lit with gold. And there was more wine. Rajan swirled his glass. “Does it taste like freedom?” he asked Wolfgang when he saw the man take a sip.

Wolfgang sighed. “It tastes more like…wanting to tie yourself down.”

“Ooh, kinky,” Daniela said as she passed by.

“Well, whatever that means, I hope it’s good,” Rajan said. Kala linked arms with him.

“Oh, it’s good,” Wolfgang said. He smiled down at Kala. “It’s better than good.”

Kala pulled Rajan off to a corner with a bed. As they clinked glasses, Rajan glanced at the bed confusedly. Kala had never actually initiated sex with him before—he was always the one to ask. Did she actually want to, tonight, when she could be doing anything with any of her friends? When Wolfgang was right here—and he settled down on the bed behind them. But Kala’s arms went around Rajan’s neck, and Rajan pulled her close.

She kissed him. He eased her dress off, and she smiled warmly. God, he loved the feel of her skin.

Wolfgang huffed behind them, and when they turned to him he raised his glass. Drinking to wanting to tie himself down, perhaps. But then he patted the bed next to him.

He’d done the same thing when he came to visit Rajan at night, only to talk. But he’d stripped down earlier and right now he was wearing nothing but his boxers. Which left the action with a slightly different interpretation.

Kala tilted her head.

Well. If it was what she wanted. Rajan had to admit, he thought he might want this too. His wife and Wolfgang looked good together. Tonight, they should be together, and he was honored that he might be included.

Wolfgang stood and stepped toward Kala. He stood behind her and put his arms around her, and she arched back into him. Rajan watched and smiled. His wife looked happy, for once not scared of intimacy. This had been the right choice. He laughed as she pulled his jacket off—he was the least naked one here, and clearly she wanted to rectify that. His formerly bashful wife was growing bold.

But then the hands that came up to unbutton his shirt and pop it open were not Kala’s but Wolfgang’s, reaching around her. Rajan looked down at them, those big, rough hands. All right.

All right. He did want this. He could accept that.

They all coalesced onto the bed, now naked except for Kala’s lacy bra. Rajan had ended up at the bottom of the heap and there were hands reaching down at him, urgent on his chest. He had lost track of whose. Kala’s bare legs on his hips made him hard, and he reached up and pulled the two of them closer, closer. They might crush him—break some other important part of his body—but fuck it, he wanted more. He needed more.

Then they pulled him up and they were all kneeling, Kala now facing Wolfgang instead of him. He caressed her back with one hand while holding Wolfgang’s arm with the other, holding them together. He kissed her spine and sucked at the bumps of the bone. Sweet, sweet Kala.

And yet he still wanted more.

He sucked Kala’s neck, but they were moving, gyrating, and now he was left in the middle of the three, facing Wolfgang head on. He hadn’t looked at Wolfgang much this whole time. He’d been trying to focus on Kala, on her needs—surely this was all about his wife, and they were supposed to provide for her. But his wife was behind him, her hands reassuring on his shoulders. Pushing him forward, pushing him not to be afraid of this. Maybe she knew what he wanted more than he did.

He looked at Wolfgang. Blond, stubbly, muscular, unmistakably male. Wolfgang’s hand rested on his cheek. Tender, as tender as he had been when they were dancing.

What was this if not another dance? And Wolfgang was, somehow, someone he very much wanted to do this dance with.

He closed his eyes and opened his lips, and tasted. And Wolfgang was not Kala, not at all, but he, too, was sweet.

With that, they all surged together. It wasn’t neat in the slightest. They hadn’t discussed it ahead of time, and they were messy and none of them really knew what to do. Wolfgang was the most efficient, and Kala probably was in his headspace a little, because they moved together. They spread Rajan out on the bed, and Wolfgang straddled his chest while Kala straddled his hips. Rajan was fully hard now, painfully so, and Kala slowly took him into herself, moaning and clenching her fingers on his hips. Wolfgang wrapped Rajan’s hands around his dick, and Rajan stroked. He felt like he’d been given the easiest job, honestly, though with Kala fucking him it was a bit hard to focus. He tried to time their strokes together. Wolfgang huffed and squeezed Rajan’s shoulders, his grip hard enough to leave bruises, his eyes wild. He came with a soft cry, and Kala’s hands came up to brace his back so he wouldn’t fall over. She came soon after that, and Rajan after her. And then, unsteadily, they climbed off Rajan and laid down next to him.

Rajan panted. It hadn’t been perfect but it had been more intense than any other sex he’d had in his life. He sat up and stared out the door. “My God.” He ran a hand through his hair. “I didn’t think such things were possible.”

Kala put a finger on his lips, hand as gentle as Wolfgang’s had been earlier, pulling him closer. “Shh.” She pulled him down. He put his arm over her, and it overlapped with Wolfgang’s.

Even their breaths were synced. He pressed his head into her chest, and breathed deeply the scent of sex and perfume and Kala and Wolfgang. Like freedom. Like safety. Like his woman, like his (his? Really his?) man. Like home, like adventure. Like wanting, like having.

In the warmth of their embrace, he fell asleep.

**Author's Note:**

> Sometimes I wanna write fanfic because canon fucked up. Sometimes I wanna write fanfic because canon did SO GOOD. This is, obviously, the latter. And as it's largely just canon written out, it's not really adding anything to the ship, but I had to do it because I have just so many feelings! How else could I process?  
> Anyways I hope y'all enjoyed the finale as much as me and somehow enjoyed this fic as well. It's way way too long but that's just too bad. Vive la Rajalagang!


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